Steadfast Love Begins with Commitment

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0:01So you don't know it yet, but those, I picked the songs before I was really prepping this sermon, but that last song and the song before it, Build My Life and You're With Me, they really have a strong tie-in to today's passage. So see if you can make those connections. Look back in your bulletin later at the words of those songs and see how they show up in this passage, God's providence for us today. When we were out west, I saw a bald eagle for the first time in the wild.

0:29I had never seen one before. I saw two on a drive. That was really cool. I learned that bald eagles mate for life. They raise their offspring together. I hoped to, when I looked up to learn more, I hoped to learn that they migrate together too. They don't actually do that. They don't migrate together in pairs. I guess they prefer to travel solo. I think that ornithologists believe that the pairs can't seem to agree on what to listen to on the way.

1:01One wants to listen to a podcast. One wants to listen to music. Maybe they can't agree on how often to stop for a bathroom break. I don't know. I don't know why they don't travel together. But nevertheless, they return to the nest together after every migration and continue raising their young and having new offspring. They return every year. Whenever I hear about animals mating for life, it's always very endearing to me. I don't know about you, but I kind of love hearing about that.

1:31I think part of it is because we live in a very non-committal time. Commitments are very low. So, everyone's kind of holding back on making a commitment. It's a culture of maybe, and let me get back to you about that. Sometimes even weekend plans are hard to commit to because what if something better comes along? It's the spirit of our age. Here's the truth, though, and I think that we all know this intuitively. For real love to flourish, there has got to be commitment.

2:07For real love to flourish, there has to be commitment. Experience teaches us this. Commitment is like a structure upon which the vine of love grows and is attached to and is able to be held up and then bears fruit. Commitment is like the trellis that the vine grows on. And that's what we are going to see today in Ruth.

2:36Commitment happens in today's passage, and it is the remarkable beginning of steadfast love. This passage is like seeing the birth of a star. And if that sounds like hyperbole, I don't think it is. This passage is like seeing the birth of a star, seeing something come to life that then is fueled and gives off light and heat for a long time. We see the beginning of it in this passage. It's exciting. It's amazing. And we, part of our job is to sit under Scripture, God's holy and authoritative word, and just be amazed at what we see, that we know that he is behind and that he is the one fueling and accomplishing.

3:32So let's come to the word of God today with that kind of posture, ready to be amazed at what we see. Turn with me to Luke, not Luke, Ruth. It's just drilled into me at this point. To Ruth, chapter 1.

3:50This is God's word. Let's approach it and receive it as such this morning. Starting in verse 7. So she, Naomi, set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to return to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return, each of you, to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband.

4:35And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb? Come, that they may become your husbands. Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown?

5:19Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, For it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you.

6:06For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.

6:34And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, No more. So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, Is this Naomi? She said to them, Do not call me Naomi. Naomi, call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?

7:20So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her. He returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

7:39Pray with me. Lord God, we know and we believe that every good and perfect gift comes from you. And what a good and perfect gift your word is to us, which speaks to us so clearly about who you are and about your saving, steadfast love.

8:07Lord, help us to see your remarkable character, your power, your love through what we see in this story, Lord. Thank you for giving us your word and help us to sit under it with open hearts and ears. And Lord, break through and work in us and change us. In Jesus' name we pray.

8:39Okay, so our sermon series is The Shape of Steadfast Love, the book of Ruth. Remember, I told you last week that what I'm hoping for for all of us is that this book points us to God's steadfast love and teaches us how to practice steadfast love. This is a remarkably practical book. If you haven't seen in the email, I would encourage you, I'm not going to compel you or anything, but really think about my encouragement for that book that's in there by Paul Miller, A Loving Life.

9:17It's only maybe $12 or so. It will really help everything in Ruth to take greater shape in your life. So I really strongly encourage that book. Today, we see steadfast love begins with commitment.

9:36Now this, as you can see, this is a powerful passage. It is, the intense emotions just leap off the page. There's deep grief and there's deep love. We see here two main things. One woman's profound suffering and then another woman's courage to move towards the first woman who's in need.

10:08So let's start with the first thing, Naomi's distress. Last week, the story was set up for us. Just a very brief recap. Naomi and her family had gone outside the promised land in search for food. While they were in Moab, her husband died. Her two sons married Moabite women outside the covenant of God. And then her two sons died too. Then Naomi heard that God had provided food and she decided to return to her home and to return to her God. Now, the real character of someone is revealed in hardship.

10:52That is a universal truth. It's easy to have, to appear to have strong character when things are going well. true character is revealed in hardship and by that metric, Naomi is a remarkable woman because we see her in this passage respond with love, with selflessness, with honesty during what is perhaps the hardest time in her life.

11:23It starts with her trying to convince Orpah and Ruth to go back to Moab. She blesses them, she reassures them that they are free of obligation to her. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. She is praying that God would give them rest, would give them a home, would give them new husbands, a new place to be.

11:51They cry, they embrace each other. You can tell that these three women have been through a lot together and they love each other. They embrace each other, but Orpah and Ruth are undeterred at first. No, they say. Their bonds are strong and they are not so easily broken. So Naomi tries another approach. She gives them a bracing reality check. Verse 11. Have I yet sons in my womb?

12:28I'm too old to have a husband, she says. And even if I did, even if I conceived tonight, would you wait until they're grown? In other words, she's saying, I've got nothing to offer you. I've got no future. I've got no promise. There's no pathway here for you to have a good and full life by clinging on to me. You are better off in your own country with your own people and your own gods. According to Naomi. This is an act of costly love. They are, these two daughters-in-law are all that Naomi has left.

13:17Three times, she calls them my daughters. But she wants what's best for them and she really believes in her heart of hearts that it's back in Moab. Naomi says, you're just better off without me. No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.

13:48Now, Naomi is in the deepest distress and anguish. And what she is doing is the biblical practice of lament. She is expressing grief and confusion and suffering. And it comes again when she gets to Bethlehem. So we're going to skip down to that. When they arrive, the women of the town are buzzing. There's an excitement in the air. Is this Naomi? Could it be? They are ready to throw her a welcome home party.

14:25They're excited. But Naomi says, no, no, this is not Naomi. This is not Naomi that you're looking at. That name means pleasant. Call me Mara, which means bitter. Because that's how God has dealt with me.

14:49Now, I don't know about you, but my gut response when I read this is to say, oh, no, no, no. Naomi, don't say that. Maybe that's what the townspeople are saying. Naomi, don't say that. Here, have some barley. It's the barley harvest.

15:09But she says, no, I went away full. The Lord brought me back empty. And now we're looking around at each other and we're unsure how to respond. And she says, why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me.

15:35Now, our modern Western context does not have any positive framework for these kinds of statements. We literally don't know what to do with what she's saying here. If we're being honest. Has she given up her faith? What's going on? We start labeling her. We start diagnosing her. Trying to find out what's wrong with her.

16:09But there's nothing wrong with her. She's lamenting. That's what she's doing. She is lamenting. This is unfamiliar territory for most of us. But it is biblical. The biblical model of lament can be a real help for us. It can offer us a path to walk in suffering. And it's all about honesty. Now, some of this may connect with you right now. You may read this passage and identify more with Naomi than with Ruth.

16:51Let me tell you about the biblical practice of lament because that's what Naomi is teaching us here. It's all about honesty. Lament is an honest assessment of our circumstances. When we deny that we're going through hardship and we say, no, everything's fine. Everything's okay. Other people have it worse. What are we doing except distancing ourselves from reality?

17:24It's better just to say, you know what, this is hard. This is hard. The second thing about lament is it's an honest expression of our feelings. Suffering is painful and it's confusing. That's the nature of it. Friends, you can be steady without being stoic.

17:51Steadiness is being sure of what's true. Being a stoic is denying that you're feeling anything. You can be steady without being a stoic. We are whole people with hearts that get hurt and minds that can't make sense of it all. Bottling it up, shoving it into a corner, that is not the path of long-term health. Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. It's all right to mourn. It's more than all right.

18:38Jesus said, blessed are you when you mourn. You don't have to just put on a happy face when life is hard. Finally, and this might be the most important one, lament is honest interaction with God.

18:59So many times when things go wrong, Christians call it spiritual warfare. Now, that's true. Spiritual warfare is real. But, God is always in control. Always. Always. Even when there is spiritual warfare.

19:23Naomi recognizes that. Do you see how she says, God has done this? That's the part that we're like, whoa, Naomi. Take it easy. Don't say that out loud.

19:39She recognizes that God is in control of everything. She does it without pulling away from Him. She does it without cursing His name. She's just stating the truth. God is in the midst of this. I don't know how, and it hurts, but God is still in control.

20:06She hasn't pulled away from Him. She's returned to Bethlehem, remember? She's going back to Him. All the while saying, He's dealt bitterly with me, but I'm going back to Him anyway. I'm returning to Him.

20:22Lament keeps God in your sights. It doesn't turn away from Him and say, you know what, I'm done with Him. Nor does it say, God, you must be evil. Because of the things that are happening to me. It's right there in the middle and saying, God, you're in control. I don't know why this is happening. This is hard. But I am turning to you.

20:50Honesty about our circumstances, honesty about our feelings, and honestly going to God. That's what lament is. And friends, that is way different than I sometimes will respond to suffering in my life. I don't know about you. Naomi is being faithful.

21:13Her words are hard for us, but they are faithful. She is doing her level best to articulate how she's feeling, how she sees God treating her without cursing Him, without dismissing Him. But here's the thing. What she doesn't see yet is how God is being faithful to her right then and there. right during that moment. Because right after she says, the hand of the Lord has gone out against me, there are hands clinging to her. Ruth's hands. The Lord's faithfulness is manifesting in her life.

21:54And her suffering, she can't see it yet, but it's happening. It's happening. God is being faithful to her through Ruth. Now let's look at Ruth. Let's look at Ruth's decision. Naomi commanded them, commanded her daughters-in-law, go, return, turn back. And now Ruth speaks up firmly, lovingly, with a command of her own. Naomi, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. Stop. And what comes next are words that have been used for centuries afterwards to express commitment and deep devotion.

22:45Where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. She made a decision to love Naomi, a commitment. And that commitment has got important attributes to it. The first thing is this, it is a choice. It's a choice. It's not a mandate, it's a choice. When Orpah decided to turn back, she didn't do anything wrong.

23:20These women didn't owe something to Naomi. There were no social responsibilities, there were no laws, there were no customs. Orpah did not break any commandment or any law.

23:34Listen, even Ruth's new faith didn't demand her to do this. She clearly has become a follower of God, a believer in Yahweh. But faith in God does not create an obligation to Naomi.

23:51She could have said, Naomi, thank you. Thank you for teaching me about Yahweh, the covenant Lord. Thank you for telling me about him. Through you I have become a worshiper of him. I'll be forever grateful and I promise to check in on you from time to time. She could have done that. She could have gone her own way as a worshiper of God. Orpah and Ruth faced the same situation. Orpah chose the sensible route. Ruth chose the sacrificial route.

24:28Now remember, we're trying to learn from this about how to practice steadfast love. The second thing is this. It is one-sided. She's not making a deal with Naomi. This is not a quid pro quo. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I'll do the dishes in the house, Naomi, if you do this and this for me. I bet that many of you, maybe not all of you since you're maybe too young, I bet a lot of you could probably sing the theme song of Friends in your head.

24:59You know it says over and over, I'll be there for you, I'll be there for you, I'll be there for you, but how does it end? Because you're there for me too. Ah, so it's an exchange, it's a deal, I'll be there for you because you're there for me too. There is none of that in Ruth's words, none of it. She doesn't ask for anything in return, she doesn't even ask for a thank you, and she doesn't get a thank you.

25:34The third thing is this, it is costly. Everything about her life is about to get reoriented for Naomi's sake. Where you go, I will go. She's giving up her independence, her freedom of movement. I was working on this sermon over the July 4th holiday, I thought it was striking that Ruth's commitment means that she is giving up her freedom.

26:01She's willfully curtailing her own freedom, her own independence. Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. She's giving up her homeland. In the promised land, she might be mistreated, she might be a second-class citizen.

26:20Your people shall be my people. She's walking away from her community, her family, all the people who know her name, all the people who know her story. She's about to be a stranger in a strange land. And your God will be my God. She's giving up her religion, her cultural identity, who she has been since she was born. She's going to be learning new customs, new religious practices that she won't understand right away.

26:51All of this is a huge, disorienting amount of change. Without any guarantee. There's no assurance that life is going to work out for Ruth. Think about it, even Abraham had a word from the Lord himself saying you will bear a son. You will have a son. He didn't tell him when, but he told him that it would happen. Ruth doesn't even have that. No word from the Lord. No assurance that everything is going to work out.

27:26It's extremely costly. And finally it is lifelong. And she made it that way herself. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. I remember the first time I learned that a lifetime warranty on something meant the lifetime of the product, not the lifetime of the buyer. That was a big disappointment.

27:58Ruth's promise is not like that. It's not for Naomi's lifetime. Who knows how much longer Naomi would live. Ruth promises beyond your lifetime. Where you die, I will die.

28:16It's for her entire lifetime. Her commitment goes to her own death and beyond. Where you are buried, I will be buried. And she seals it with a pledge. May the Lord do so to me. And more also, if anything but death parts me from you. She's closed all the loopholes. A lot of times pro-athlete contracts will have an opt-out clause. You might think that they're going to be in one place with one team for ten years, but there's an opt-out clause in there.

28:47They could three years in, they could say, you know what, I'm out of here. There's no opt-out clauses for Ruth. She is all in. She's closed all the escapes. When the author writes that Ruth clung to Naomi, that word clung is the same word found in Genesis 2 24. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast, cleave to his wife. It's the same word.

29:17Ruth is cleaving to Naomi. Naomi, when I do premarital counseling, I spend some time talking about the vows. We talk together about how radical they are, how extraordinary the traditional wedding vows are. Ruth is making that kind of commitment, but even more than that, right? Because in marriage, when your spouse dies, you're free of that vow. She's vowing beyond that. God, this is a remarkable commitment to steadfast love. Like I said, it's the birth of a star.

29:57Who does something like this? How could Ruth do this? I think the clear answer is that she was filled with something outside of herself. She was filled with the steadfast love of God towards her. That's what she had experienced. You cannot love like this unless you have experienced the life changing adoption, of coming into a new family, of the Lord moving towards you in love. Once Ruth had personally experienced the mercy of God, she saw the need in front of her and she decided to move towards that need and to love in the same way.

30:38She made a bold choice to commit to Naomi, to serve her need. Now listen, many of you are Ruth right now. many of you, we're going to talk more about this in coming weeks. This is part of why this book is so extremely helpful. Many of you are Ruth because you have made a choice to practice steadfast love.

31:09I'll give you a hint. If you're married, you're Ruth. That's just the beginning. That's just one example of a time. If you're caring for parents, you're Ruth. If you're parenting, you're Ruth. If you're moving towards a neighbor who is bereaved, you're Ruth.

31:40You know how the love can sometimes be one-sided, can be costly. Others of you in the room, maybe especially teenagers, I still want you to listen because someday you will face a need. You will face a choice like Orpah and Ruth did. It's coming. You'll face a choice whether or not to lean in and love. We all have opportunities like that. Many that come along in our lives. Naomi doesn't know it yet, but a beacon of light has just pierced through her darkness.

32:25And that beacon of light is Ruth, through whom God's deliverance and salvation is shining. Because Ruth is the means of God's deliverance in her life. God has heard her lament and he has set into motion the rescue plan for her and for her life.

32:47And what about us? What about us? Can the good news for Naomi be good news for us? I think it can. Because Ruth's commitment to Naomi points us to God's commitment to his people. Listen to this. Ruth's love for Naomi should make us more amazed at how God loves us. Like her, God's love was a choice. He was under no obligation to rescue or redeem. He chose to save. He chose to do it to manifest his mercy, his saving power.

33:30The love of God towards us is one-sided. He loved us before we would love him back, before we could love him back. We wanted nothing to do with him. We were in bondage, we were addicted to the poison of sin, we were sipping it little by little. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive. Together with Christ, by grace you've been saved. It's one-sided and it was costly.

34:14The Son of God set aside his he emptied himself of it, he divested himself of it, he set it aside to be born as a human, to walk this earth as a poor humble servant, to die in the place of sinners like us. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, church. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

34:53And like Ruth, God's commitment to you is for life and it's beyond. We heard earlier from John 10, Jesus said the good shepherd protects his sheep. He gives them eternal life. No one, no one will snatch them out of his hand. Nothing will separate us from the love of God shown to us in Christ Jesus. Nothing, not tribulation, not suffering, not sickness, not death, not famine, nothing in this world will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

35:34Lord, for all of you who are enduring hardship like Naomi, who are wondering where God is, and for all of you who are searching for someone to be committed to you like Ruth was to Naomi, look to Jesus, your faithful Savior. Savior. He clings to you like Ruth did to Naomi. He clings to you in steadfast love, in your darkest hour, in your greatest need, and he says, child, where you go, I will go.

36:15I have made you my people. Where you lodge, I will lodge, and I have made my father to be your father. Those are words spoken over you in love from a Savior who will never leave you.

36:33Let's pray. Lord, Ruth's love is amazing to us, and yet your love for us in Christ is even more amazing, and we give you all the praise today because you are the epitome of steadfast love. You have shown it to us in Christ. While we were enemies, he died for us and brought us in, so how much more, now that we are friends through faith, will we be saved? Will we be delivered, no matter what we are going through?

37:16Lord, for my friends here who feel like Naomi, who are suffering, would you remind them of your steadfast love? And Lord, for those who are like Ruth, who are trying every day to practice a sacrificial, one-sided love to someone in their life, would you fill them up again with your love, with your mercy? God, we praise you for you are the author of salvation. Continue writing that story in our lives, and we pray this in your son's name.